Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume V. Nature. 1904. | | | | V. Trees: Flowers: Plants | | Early June | | Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) |
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SO, some tempestuous morn in early June, | |
| When the year’s primal burst of bloom is o’er, | |
| Before the roses and the longest day— | |
| When garden-walks and all the grassy floor | |
| With blossoms red and white of fallen May | 5 |
| And chestnut-flowers are strewn— | |
| So have I heard the cuckoo’s parting cry, | |
| From the wet field, through the vext garden-trees, | |
| Come with the volleying rain and tossing breeze: | |
| The bloom is gone, and with the bloom go I! | 10 |
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| Too quick despairer, wherefore wilt thou go? | |
| Soon will the high Midsummer pomps come on, | |
| Soon will the musk carnations break and swell, | |
| Soon shall we have gold-dusted snapdragon, | |
| Sweet-William with his homely cottage-smell, | 15 |
| And stocks in fragrant blow; | |
| Roses that down the alleys shine afar, | |
| And open, jasmine-muffled lattices, | |
| And groups under the dreaming garden-trees, | |
| And the full moon, and the white evening-star. | 20 | | | |
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